To Believe
by Comet's Tail
Summary: What if someone other than Luna believed in Harry from the start, and told him so? Set in the beginning of 5th year. One shot.


**Disclaimer: There is no way I could possibly own the world-renowned Harry Potter franchise, which was written, as you all know, by the wonderful J.K. Rowling. I could **_**never**_** write something that good. It is beyond me, and my earthly capabilities.**

It was the first day back at Hogwarts. The Golden Trio were walking together to their first class, with Hermione and Ron on either side of Harry, as a sort-of barrier to the heated glares and whispers being sent his way.

Harry was in a bad mood after the argument with Seamus last night. He couldn't believe him! He wasn't lying, why would someone even believe what the Prophet had to say, anyway? He felt a tap on his shoulder.

'What?' He snapped, turning around. He looked at a short-haired brunette girl wearing a green and silver tie. His glower increased. 'What do you want?' She looked meekly at him, seeing similar looks of distaste on his two companions' faces. After all, a Slytherin _never_ had anything nice to say to a Gryffindor.

'Um, hi,' she said meekly, eyes shifting down to the ground. 'I, uh, I wanted to say that, I , I believe you..'

Harry blinked. 'What?' His brow creased in confusion.

'About _his_ return, and all.' She looked up at him shyly, but quickly looked back down again. 'I mean,' she started, 'it's kind of stupid what the papers are saying, about you and Dumbledore. It's not like someone would lie about a situation like that, not unless they wanted to cause mass panic, or something. Not that you are!' She hurriedly told him, taking his look for one of annoyance. 'I don't even know if they're allowed to say things like that about you, anyways,' she mumbled. 'At least in the non-magical world, they have laws against printing rumors and stuff about minors. That is, I think they do...' she trailed off, a pensive look on her face.

Ron coughed, interrupting her . 'Can we get on with it?' he asked, clearly impatient. Hermoine elbowed him sharply in the side. 'Ow! What was that for?' Hermione gave him a quick glare. He shut up. Harry grinned a bit, despite the situation.

She looked back up, realizing where she was, and blushed a bit. 'Um, yeah, so I don't know if it means much, especially with me being in Slytherin, and all, but, I thought it'd be nice for someone to tell you they believe in you, and everything.' She looked up at him earnestly. 'I know _I'd_ probably feel miserable, but I can't really judge, I've never had people trash me in the newspapers,' she gave him a quick grin, one that Harry returned with a small smile.

'So, um, see yah!' she chirped. 'I'm gonna' go now,' she finished awkwardly, heading off at a run, dodging the people who'd stopped to see what the hold-up was. When they saw Harry looking at them, they quickly glanced away, going back to whatever they were doing before.

'Huh, who knew a slimy snake would have something nice to say about you, Harry?' Ron asked him, grinning.

'Well, I thought it was rather nice,' Hermione said with a huff. 'Not that _you_ would understand something like that.'

'Something like what?!' he yelped, looking affrontedly at her.

Harry gave a soft smile when they continued bickering, the three of them continuing their walk. _Maybe it wouldn't be so bad, _he thought. _After all, if a _Slytherin_ believes me, than there must be other people who do, too. _He allowed a full-blown grin to grow on his face, a light feeling emanating from his chest.

**I decided all the text I had here before was **_**way**_** too long, so I'll just say that I got bored, and I came up with this story. Thank you for taking the time to read this.**

**And in response to Cassie-D 101 and her review, I'll give her these facts; It was a shameless self insert, so the OC is:**

**- a muggleborn**

**- not really popular, or well known; basically a bit of a loner, and an academic**

**- either neutral or light, but if it comes to it, light; doesn't like Voldemort's views**

**- the other Slytherins don't know about her blood-type, or her opinions on Voldemort**

**- in Fourth year**

**- pretty average looks; short brown hair with cowlicks, brown and green eyes, medium height and weight, widow's peak, shadows under eyes, doesn't wear make-up, slight cheekbones, needs glasses to see far away (plastic, brown and rectangular shaped), has a light brown dot (large freckle?) on her right cheek, chin, and left hand, mainly neutral expressions most of the time, but can have toothy grins when she finds something funny, or is happy**

**[This whole dialogue probably sounds mechanical because I'm re-typing this at 3 AM]**

**And as I put in the original author's note, **_**thank you**_** Cassie-D 101 for reviewing and favouriting, and to you and everybody else who did, thank you for reading, and making it to the end. I really appreciate it, guys. **


End file.
